Shakeel Afridi was sentenced on Wednesday to 33 years in prison for working with a foreign intelligence agency.

He set up a fake vaccination campaign in Abbottabad to obtain blood samples from bin Laden’s family as the CIA tried to confirm the terrorist's presence in a nearby villa.

The case has enraged American critics of Pakistan, who accuse it of expending more energy on punishing a man who helped track down the world's most wanted terrorist than investigating the network that shielded him.

Republicans yesterday said that US aid to the country could be withheld.

Shaukat Qadir, a retired brigadier who has been given access to interrogation transcripts, said yesterday that Dr Afridi was initially being asked to work in two neighbourhoods.

However after being ordered to focus his efforts on one house in the days before the May 2 raid to kill bin Laden, he asked his CIA handler "Peter", via satellite phone, for a payment of $10,000 (£6,400).
"He knew they were looking for someone. When the search homed in on one house he asked for more money, which he was paid," said Brigadier Qadir.
"So he knew it was someone important and he may have had suspicions but he was never told it was bin Laden."
Dr Afridi is expected to appeal against his sentence, which was handed down under Pakistan's tribal justice system, a hangover from British colonial rule.
The handling of the case has been criticised by the US, where many suspect that at best Pakistan has dragged its feet over seeking out foreign militants and at worst has protected al-Qaeda figures.
A State Department spokesman said the charges had "no basis". Senators John McCain and Carl Levin demanded that Dr Afridi, whom they described as "courageous, heroic, and patriotic," be pardoned. In a joint statement they said the conviction "will only do further harm to US-Pakistani relations, including diminishing Congress's willingness to provide financial assistance to Pakistan."
Dr Afridi is being held in solitary confinement at Peshawar Central Prison, in north-west Pakistan. Officials said he was "weak and depressed", and was given medicine for a stomach complaint by doctors. Samad Khan, a prison official, said: "He has been kept away from other prisoners to avert any danger to his life."
Dr Afridi's wife and three children have disappeared from their home in the Khyber tribal area and are believed to be in hiding. Congressman Peter King, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said the Obama administration had doomed Dr Afridi by leaking details of the vaccination ruse to the media. "They put him out there," said Mr King. "I'm focused on that they disclosed his identity."
The US and Pakistan also remain at loggerheads over allowing Nato supply convoys to use Pakistani roads to reach Afghanistan. Pakistan has blocked passage since a US air strike killed 24 of its soldiers in November.
A Pakistani government spokesman yesterday insisted that the US should respect the conviction because "it was in accordance with Pakistani laws and by the Pakistani courts".

So what this does confirm is that he knew he was working with a foreign intelligence agency.

"However after being ordered to focus his efforts on one house in the days before the May 2 raid to kill bin Laden, he asked his CIA handler "Peter", via satellite phone, for a payment of $10,000 (£6,400).
"He knew they were looking for someone. When the search homed in on one house he asked for more money, which he was paid," said Brigadier Qadir.
"So he knew it was someone important and he may have had suspicions but he was never told it was bin Laden."

A line[Durrand line] of hatred that raised a wall between the two brothers -Hamid Karzai

For generations, the Hindus of India prayed for deliverance from "the venom of the cobra, the teeth of the tiger and the vengeance of the Afghan."

The men of Kábul and Khilj also went home; and whenever they were questioned about the Musulmáns of the Kohistán (the mountains), and how matters stood there, they said, "Don't call it Kohistán, but Afghánistán; for there is nothing there but Afgháns and disturbances." Thus it is clear that for this reason the people of the country call their home in their own language Afghánistán, and themselves Afgháns. The people of India call them Patán; but the reason for this is not known. But it occurs to me, that when, under the rule of Muhammadan sovereigns, Musulmáns first came to the city of Patná, and dwelt there, the people of India (for that reason) called them Patáns—but God knows!

This is definitely going to be a blot on Obama's reelection campaign. Romney is most definitely going to repeatedly criticize Obama's inaction on this.

The only response to this will be a combination of drone attacks and cutting of aid. Graham sounded kind of incoherent today when he said that Pakistan needs us (America) and we need Pakistan. Fact is, the corrupt Pakistan establishment needs US, not the people, and not the the dysfunctional economy.

From the American perspective, thats the downside of empowering a corrupt leadership, giving or not giving aid is not going to have any impact on the country because such a country does not even benefit from the aid to begin with due to corruption.

Brig Shaukat Qadir is kattas Punjabi like Talal and hvZSultan and a proverbial liar. The confession might have forcefully extracted from him. We all know the brutal ways in which Pakis-Punjabis interrogate convicts. All he is doing is to propagate the impression that what Dr Afridi was doing was for money.

Brig Shaukat Qadir is kattas Punjabi like Talal and hvZSultan and a proverbial liar. The confession might have forcefully extracted from him. We all know the brutal ways in which Pakis-Punjabis interrogate convicts. All he is doing is to propagate the impression that what Dr Afridi was doing was for money.

I agree with you on this one - absolute injustice in display to send a message. Its absurd to assume that an interrogation in the kangaroo court/jail is going to yield any meaningful information. The man already had property and a proper home as well as being medical faculty. They make him out to be some hungry dog searching for a measely $10,000 under a rock.

"2 crackheads don't become any better or stronger by sharing the same crack pipe." - Greatest PF quote